Renewable biological source materials such as plants and wood comprise various biological polymers. For example, carbohydrates (or saccharides) are a major component of wood. Chemically, carbohydrates are simple organic compounds that are aldehydes or ketones with a plurality of hydroxyl groups, usually one on each carbon atom that is not part of the aldehyde or ketone functional group. Carbohydrates are comprised of repeating monomeric units termed monosaccharides which can link together to form polymers referred to as polysaccharides and oligosaccharides, which are present in hemicellulose recovered from renewable raw materials such as wood.
Carbohydrates that resist digestion in the small intestine but are fermentable in the large intestine have been shown to have added health benefits as prebiotics. As used herein, prebiotics refer to non-digestible food components that selectively stimulate the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of beneficial bacteria in the colon, resulting in an improvement or maintenance of host health. An ongoing need exists for prebiotic compositions that may beneficially affect the health of the organism to which it is administered. Further it would be desirable to cost-effectively obtain prebiotics from a renewable resource such as wood.